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Turmeric Flavors of India Opens, Poised to Be the Next Big Thing in Downtown Dining

The downtown Las Vegas restaurant scene has been booming in recent years, and the new Turmeric Flavors of India is destined to join the ever-growing list of must-try eateries,
mainly because it’s flipping amazing.

Fun fact: Turmeric Flavors of India is built on the site of a former motel pool. Granted, we may not have a firm grasp of the definition of “fun.”

Turmeric Flavors of India is one of the most-anticipated Las Vegas restaurant openings in recent memory, probably because it’s taken the place so long to arrive! We’d nearly given up, but now we’re happy to report it was well worth the wait.

Garage door-style windows roll up for some downtown atmosphere. Which isn’t nearly as cringe-inducing a thought as it used to be.

Turmeric Flavors of India, which definitely needs a shorthand version of its name, has hit the ground running while swinging for the fences and firing on all cylinders. Let’s just say we’re as good at mixing metaphors as Turmeric is at producing exceptional dishes that are creative twists on classic Indian fare.

The new restaurant offering on Fremont Street sits across from the Downtown Container Park. It’s a challenging location, but not when you serve up dishes like the ones you’ll find on the Turmeric menu. Whether you walk, bike, drive or jet ski there, you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll love. (Let us know how the jet ski thing goes.)

What’s more, much of the food isn’t just delicious, it’s also (gasp) healthy and possibly (yikes) vegetarian. Don’t have a freak-out, just have more of the mind-blowing naan.

Naan is like foreplay. It’s better with someone else in the room. Or something.

The aforementioned naan is both glorious and dangerous. Owner and chef Ritesh Patel said he tried dozens of variations before landing on the recipe, and it shows.

As far as we know, Turmeric Flavors of India is the only Indian restaurant downtown, and the only one of its kind we’ve found in Las Vegas.

The food is both familiar and new, and every dish has approximately 48 ingredients we’ve never hear of before. Then again, we don’t get out much.

We tried the lunch menu first. There’s a somewhat limited selection, but better to do a few dishes right than a lot of dishes meh. Which Turmeric should totally steal for their advertising.

Most people pronounced “Turmeric” as “tu-mer-ic.” Feel free to donate the additional “r” to Goodwill.

It’s obvious right off the bat Turmeric is going for an elevated take on traditional Indian dishes. When we saw our Chicken Tikka, we nearly had a meltdown (we were probably thinking of chicken tikka masala).

A simple, light dish with all the flavors you’d expect from this Indian favorite.

Make sure to fully exploit any accompanying sauces or dips. The flavors will dance on your tongue like an Indian folk dancer.

We then dove into the Aaloo Papdi Chaat (spiced potato, garbanzo, wheat crisp, cilantro, tamarind and yogurt chutney), which we assume translates as “similar to a salad, lughead.”

We strive not to eat things we can’t pronounce, but that would limit our diet to pizza and our words.

Turmeric really kicks things up with its dinner menu. Every dish is a complex mixture of nuanced ingredients completely lost on us because we are not a food critic, but we know what we like.

To start off, we became enamored with a salmon dish, and we are not really a fish person. Green pea relish, puffed rice and potato chaat. What’s not to love?

Yes, it looks like art. As everyone knows, the best art is the edible kind.

As if this weren’t already enough to prove how impressive Turmeric is, we even had the grilled eggplant. Yes, voluntarily. The dish features peanut-sesame crust, tamarind chutney and labne, and yet we loved it, anyway.

If Turmeric can get us to eat eggplant, all things are possible.

You know miracles never cease because we also tried the stuffed Portobello mushroom. Probably because it looked like a stuffed potato skin. We’re pretty sure we’re now a de facto vegetarian. Except for the meat dishes. Hey, let’s not get bogged down in details.

Yes, we enjoyed a mushroom floating on something green. Told you all things are possible.

The exact moment when note-taking ends and award-winning blogging begins.

As with the food, the cocktails were masterfully prepared and consistently tasty.

We have a vague recollection the cocktail below is the Milk & Honey, but don’t make any bets on it. What you can bet on, though, is this is a certified panty-dropper cocktail, in the finest tradition of panty-dropper cocktails.

How do you say “We respectfully request a diving board” in Hindi?

We also knocked back the Darjeeling Limited, with Beefeater 24, a house darjeeling tea syrup, fresh lemon and egg white.

Ridiculously dropworthy.

But wait, there’s more.

Turmeric strives to be more than just an Indian restaurant, and has a second floor bar that will have a Kamasutra style (and we seem to remember it will be called Kama). Given it was inspired by a book about sex, we’ll be interested to see how Kama is positioned. If you get our drift.

The upper deck’s a work-in-progress, but there’s a lot of potential for entertainment, private parties and bottle service. Kidding. It’s downtown. People will throw things at you if you pull that bottle service crap.

Turmeric Flavors of India is fully embracing its downtown location, and will mix it up with live shows and a variety of events, the specifics of which we have completely forgotten. Thanks a lot, Darjeeling Limited.

You’ll know it when you see it.

There will be more details to come, but the Kama patio is destined to become a wildly popular new diversion on Fremont Street, and the best possible spot to watch the fire-breathing praying mantis across the street at the Container Park.

“Fire-breathing praying mantis” wasn’t just a literary device.

In case it wasn’t abundantly clear, we absolutely adore this new offering, and we predict Turmeric Flavors of India is going to win over legions of fans with its inspired menu, fine dining food quality and unpretentious vibe.

We chatted with chef Ritesh Patel, so look for the interview in the next installment of the highly overrated Vital Vegas Podcast.

Our new food idol, chef Ritesh Patel.

In the meantime, check out more photos of Turmeric Flavors of India, and put it on the agenda for your next visit to downtown Las Vegas.

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So it’s finally open. Been watching the progress from the Container Park. According to your comments Scott it was worth the wait. Not a big fan of Indian food but because of your glowing review I’ll give it a try.That upper floor outdoor bar looks nice..hope it open soon.

Mike L

Any idea who that site is owned by? It seems a lot classier than the motel next to it, but it’s basically in their parking lot.

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